177 Conceptual metaphors of travel and stability metaphorical language reveal consistent patterns. Diverse linguistic expressions derive from the same source domain, and these are used to express the same target domain. In other words, general metaphors underlie many individual linguistic metaphorical expressions.583 These patterns were found to be shared by discourse communities, rather than being particular to individual authors. CMT therefore holds that these patterns in metaphorical language reflect how discourse communities conceive of target domains. Metaphorical patterns move beyond individual language use and thinking.584 CMT uses particular terminology to discuss metaphors. Examples of metaphors used in speech or writing are conventionally called linguistic metaphorical expressions.585 For example, the expression ‘I do not know which path to take’ is a linguistic metaphorical expression. General metaphors that underlie many individual linguistic metaphorical expressions are called conceptual metaphors. They are conventionally expressed as target domain is source domain.586 When we observe patterns between linguistic metaphorical expressions we can identify the conceptual source and target domains that underlie these expressions and recognise conceptual metaphors. For example, linguistic metaphorical expressions, such as ‘making your way in life’, ‘getting anywhere’ with your life or ‘not knowing which path to take’ draw from the conceptual domain of journeys to understand aspects of the more abstract concept of life.587 The conceptual metaphor these expressions manifest is life is a journey, in which ‘journey’ is the source domain and ‘life’ the target domain. So one of the ways in which we conceptualise life is by conceiving it as a journey.588 This particular conceptual metaphor has already been identified by Lakoff and Turner in English language.589 As we will see, this conceptual metaphor appears also in other languages and across time. The appearance of these general patterns among the vast diversity of linguistic metaphorical expressions is interpreted in CMT as evidence that metaphors reflect the speakers’ thinking about target domains. These conceptual metaphors are considered to be a reflection of how language users conceive of particular concepts. Another indication of the connection between metaphor and thought is that certain concepts can only be understood or thought of in metaphorical ways because of the abstract nature of these concepts. CMT holds that understanding abstract concepts requires metaphorical thinking: 583 Ibid. 584 Of course there is variation between users of the same language and we may identify multiple discourse communities, which may overlap and vary. However, language is not individual. Metaphorical conceptions of abstract concepts may even be shared across languages. The appearance of widely shared metaphorical patterns between languages and discourse communities is explained in CMT by the idea that knowledge of the world is through embodied cognition and by the assumption that certain human experiences are widely shared. 585 Kovecses (2002), p. 4. 586 Conceptual metaphors are conventionally rendered in small capitals, to distinguish them from linguistic metaphorical expressions. This convention will be adhered to in this chapter. 587 These examples are given in Lakoff and Turner (1989), p. 3. 588 This is not the only way in which life is conceptualised; life is understood in multiple conceptual metaphors. For example, saying ‘life leaks away’ reflects the conceptual metaphor life is fluid in the body. Ibid., p. 19. 589 Lakoff and Turner (1989). 4
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